Happy New Year!

With only 12 minutes to go until the big moment (local time, anyway), I'd like to wish a Happy New Year to all of my family, friends and any others who happen upon this blog. I hope your 2008 is spectacular and full of blessings.

On a mostly unrelated note, Frank's birthday is tomorrow. Will they be nutty enough to have a birthday party for their dog, you ask. Why, yes, they will. :)

Now go smooch someone!

Welcome to Life with Chihuahua Grande

Ahhhh….the first post in a fresh, new blog. To begin, let me introduce the main characters in my little world…..

First, there’s John – the man nutty enough to agree to spend the rest of his days with me – computer ninja, devoted father, and currently an RPG designer. He’s also funny enough to make you blow iced mocha through your nose and quite the hottie.

Next, we have Grace, my step-daughter – she’s a frighteningly intelligent 1st grader who possesses a beautiful blend of respect for Barbie, knowledge about bugs and appreciation for Dr. Who. She’s also a super-cutie, a picky eater and a fabulous dancer.

That brings us to Frank, the Chihuahua Grande himself. He’s a mutt that we saved from certain doom – he was on his way back to the shelter when we adopted him, took him in and began to idolize him in the proper fashion that he deserves. He’s part Chihuahua and part something much larger than a Chihuahua. He enjoys dressing up, having his picture taken and anything that has even the slight odor of any type of food.

Now to Simon, the demented kitty of the house. Simon mostly keeps to himself when he’s not setting Frank straight on who rules this place we call home. It should be noted that Simon is one huge cat, weighing in at 18 pounds last I checked. (This puts him at a full 4 pounds heavier than the dog.) Simon’s favorite activities are drinking directly from the sink, playing with his tennis ball and depositing loads of orange hair on our black clothes.

And that leaves me, Emily. I’m twisted enough to teach 8th graders with learning and behavior problems and enjoy it. I’m also currently obsessed with letterboxing, knitting and, for the moment anyway, blogging.


So, what is this blog for? Well, I have several goals for this new blog of mine. I aim to include life updates for friends and family, pictures for the world to enjoy (or gag over or laugh at or whatever), tales of letterboxing adventures and the wacky goals I set for myself.

There are two of these self-imposed goals I have set forth for 2008. The first is to begin living life in a simpler, calmer, more joyful way. This, obviously, encompasses most facets of life. I have become frustrated and disgusted with the fast food, commercial, Earth and soul destroying way of life that I have become accustomed to. I want to put the focus of my life where I feel like it belongs….actually spending time with my family, doing the world some good and enjoying life on the whole. More local farmer’s market, less Wal-Mart. More days in the park, less time in front of the TV. More home-cooked meals (with real food that actually grew from the ground), less McDonalds. More trips to the library, less trips to Target to accumulate more things we don’t need. That sort of thing.

And my second goal of 2008 is a tad more concrete. I’m going to try to do 366 hours (don’t forget…2008 is a leap year) of work for charity. An average of one little hour a day. One twenty-fourth of the year to come. I think it can be done. I’m sure a lot of it will be done with knitting for various charities. John and I have also signed up for the 2008 Avon Walk for Breast Cancer….a 39 mile walk to raise money for breast cancer research. I also plan to volunteer for the local Literacy Council. Those are just some of the ideas I’m starting with.

So, this blog is for tracking adventures of family, letterboxing, and goal-keeping. I hope it’s also entertaining enough to get you to keep reading it without slipping into a coma or ramming a sharp object in your eye.

Happy New Year (a couple of days early)!!!!

-Emily